The short version
Square is the POS most single food trucks end up on because the math is simple and nothing is signed: $0 a month on the Free plan, 2.6% + 15¢ on every in-person card, a $59 reader that runs off your phone's signal, offline payments on by default, and no contract. The paid plans ($49 Plus at 2.5% + 15¢, $149 Premium at 2.4% + 15¢) buy features more than they buy a lower rate. The limits are also simple: no Square device has cellular built in, the Handheld is Wi-Fi only, and offline payments have to be uploaded within a day to be safe.
Every figure on this page was read on October 13, 2026 on the vendor's own pricing, hardware or help pages (Toast's and Clover's sites block automated readers, so their pages were read through a rendering proxy of the same vendor URLs; nothing here comes from a review site). Where a number is not on a vendor page, we say so. Prices change; confirm the current figure on the linked page before you sign. For Toast alone, see Toast POS for food trucks; for the head-to-head with Clover included, Toast vs Square for a food truck; for the one-page verdict, best POS for food trucks.
Plans and rates
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| Square Free | Square Plus | Square Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software | $0 a month per location | $49 a month per location, 30-day trial | $149 a month per location, 30-day trial |
| Tap, dip or swipe | 2.6% + 15¢ | 2.5% + 15¢ | 2.4% + 15¢ |
| Keyed-in or card on file | 3.5% + 15¢ | 3.5% + 15¢ | 3.5% + 15¢ |
| Online and invoices (card) | 3.3% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Afterpay | 6% + 30¢ | 6% + 30¢ | 6% + 30¢ |
| ACH on invoices | 1%, $1 minimum | 1%, $1 minimum, $10 cap | 1%, $1 minimum, $10 cap |
| Restaurant add-ons | — | KDS app $30 a month per device; Kiosk app $50 a month | KDS $20 a month per device; Kiosk $30 a month |
| Contract | None | None | None |
Two details from Square's fee article that matter on a truck: "Payment processing fees are taken out of the total amount of each transaction, including tax and tip," and custom pricing is available only if you process over $250,000 a year. Square's help center now calls the old "Square for Restaurants" subscription a legacy plan; the restaurant features live inside Plus and Premium.
Hardware for a truck
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| Device | Price | How it connects | On a truck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square Reader for contactless and chip (2nd gen) | $59 | Bluetooth 5.3 to a phone or tablet; "through a Wi-Fi network, a hotspot, or cellular data" | The only Square device that rides on a phone's signal; the default truck window |
| Square Terminal | $299, or $27 a month over 12 months | Wi-Fi, or Ethernet with the separately sold Hub | All-in-one with receipt printer; needs a hotspot in the truck |
| Square Stand | $149, or $14 a month over 12 months | Through your iPad | Counter setup for a trailer with a fixed window |
| Square Handheld | $399, or $37 a month over 12 months | Wi-Fi only (Wi-Fi 6E); "requires connection to a Wi-Fi network" | Line busting, but only within your hotspot's range |
| Square Register (2nd gen) | $899, or $44 a month over 24 months | Wi-Fi or Ethernet; "must be plugged into a power source at all times" | Fixed counter only |
| Square Kiosk | $149, or $14 a month over 12 months | — | Self-order; does not support offline payments |
Financing is 15% APR over 3 to 24 months through Block, Inc., on purchases from $49 to $10,000, and is not available in Alabama, Delaware, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire or Tennessee.
The connectivity line is the one to read twice. No Square device has built-in LTE. A truck on Square runs the Reader on a phone with cellular data, or runs a Terminal, Handheld or Register off a hotspot. That works at most markets and events; at a festival where the cell network collapses, it is where offline payments come in.
Offline payments, in Square's own words
- On by default: "Offline payments will be automatically allowed on all your devices unless you opt out."
- Your cap: "Set your preferred max amount allowed per transaction for offline payments (between $1 and $50,000)."
- Sessions on the Reader and Stand: "you have 24 hours to accept offline payments," then the device must reconnect to start another session.
- Upload deadline, help center: "You must upload your offline payments within 72 hours of the start of your offline session," "Pending offline payments will expire after 72 hours if you don't reconnect to the internet and upload them," and "uploading your offline payments within 24 hours is highly recommended to reduce your risk of chargebacks or card declines."
- Upload deadline, product pages: payments "will be declined if you do not reconnect to the internet within 24 hours of taking your first offline payment." The two pages disagree, so work to the stricter one: reconnect the same day.
- The risk: "You're responsible for any expired, declined, or disputed payments accepted while taking offline payments," "You will not receive notifications for declined payments while processing offline payments," and "Expired offline payments cannot be retrieved or reprocessed."
Supported on Register, Terminal, Handheld, Stand and the second-generation Reader; not on the Kiosk or the first-generation readers.
What a year of Square costs a truck
At $150,000 of in-person card sales with an $18 average ticket (8,333 transactions):
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| Plan | Percentage part | 15¢ part | Processing a year | Software a year | Total | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square Free, 2.6% + 15¢ | $3,900 | $1,250 | $5,150 | $0 | $5,150 | 3.43% |
| Square Plus, 2.5% + 15¢ | $3,750 | $1,250 | $5,000 | $588 | $5,588 | 3.73% |
| Square Premium, 2.4% + 15¢ | $3,600 | $1,250 | $4,850 | $1,788 | $6,638 | 4.43% |
At this volume Plus costs more than Free; the rate cut is worth $150 and the software costs $588. Buy Plus or Premium for the features (kitchen display, team tools), not for the rate. On the same sales Toast's $0 Starter Kit is $5,885 and Clover's Starter plan $4,733; see Toast vs Square for a food truck for the full table.
Who Square fits
- A single truck at markets, events and lunch spots, with one person on the window and a phone in a pocket.
- Anyone who refuses to sign a multi-year agreement: there is none to sign.
- Operators who want the fee to be a number they can write on a napkin: 2.6% + 15¢ of every ticket including tax and tip.
Where Square is the wrong fit: a truck tied to a restaurant kitchen on Toast, an operation that needs cellular handhelds for line busting beyond a hotspot's reach, or a menu that sells a lot of $5 items (the 15¢ per ticket adds up; Clover's 10¢ is cheaper per ticket, with a contract attached).
Not read or not published (as of October 13, 2026)
Square's food truck landing page would not load beyond its hero for us; a search snippet attributes "2.6% + 10 cents" to it, which conflicts with 2.6% + 15¢ on every Square pricing page we read, so treat that snippet as stale. Square publishes no cellular option for any device.